Keisha Hill, Staff Reporter

In his early days, André Virtue played football for glory. However for the last six years, he has been transforming the lives of many Jamaican youths through the sport he loves and church ministry.

The lanky, former Jamaica College, Harbour View and Waterhouse midfield player became involved in Whole Life Sports (formerly Whole Life Ministries Sports), started in 1983 by the Rev Al Miller, president of Whole Life Ministries.

In 2002, the budding star came back to the island eight years after he left on a scholarship to Howard University where he pursued a degree in finance.

Passion for giving back

He was passionate about his love for God, and for the sport, but did not know how to integrate them.

"I was very passionate about Jamaica and giving back. I was just tired of hearing of all the negativity about the island and just pictured a future where I would be telling my children that their father used to live and play for Jamaica but they couldn't go back there," Virtue said.

Upon his return, Virtue met with Miller and was encouraged to attend the International Sports Leadership School in Cape Town, South Africa.

Having come to the realisation that he was divided between two opinions, Miller thought the sojourn in South Africa would be ideal for him.

"I spent four and a half months in South Africa," Virtue said. "At the school, I was able to hear from former professional players, chaplains and persons who were heavily involved in community and sports work."

During that time he learnt how to integrate his faith and sport to become more effective. When he became a Christian, he was of the opinion that he had to become a pastor and, being a practical person, he could not see himself on a pulpit.

Following his stint in South Africa, Virtue returned home and volunteered for three months at Whole Life Sports but was still a little undecided about his fate. At the end of his tenure, he took the bold step and was appointed as director of Whole Life Sports.

"I did interviews for different positions in finance but after coming back from South Africa, I was convinced that this is where I wanted to be. I was touching lives and I was able to see changes in front of me and decided to go on full time at Whole Life Sports," he said.

Sports, he said, can be used as an opportunity to engage the local community.

"Sports is seen as a common bridge in connecting the church and the community. There are so many young people on the street corners having nothing to do and sport does provide a common language where you can draw these persons together," Virtue said.

Whole Life Sports was formed when churches came together and the Churches Football League was started. This also became the pathway via which most of the churches would see sport as an effective way of youth ministry.

"The young people were just not coming to church," Virtue said. "Sunday school was no longer an option and they didn't' see the church as being relevant. This was our way of saying to the church, if you can get 50-100 young men playing then there could be an opportunity for you to go and reach out," he said.

Male focus

Over the years, the ministry has gone through a number of changes but one of the main things in its start was ensuring that the values are taught in an activity.

"It was one thing to just bring people together and talk about what they should and should not be doing," he said. "We wanted them to not just come off the street but we wanted to equip them to become better men, fathers and husbands. So, the league actually had a male focus.

"We wanted to play our part in leadership development and we saw that the men were leaders of homes, communities and their role in society was very critical."

As a result of the growth of the ministry, there has been renewed focus on young men in Kingston, St Andrew and St Catherine.

"It is non-denominational, so it doesn't have a direct link to any particular denomination," Virtue said. "One of the things that is said outside of the church is that it is divided. But because we are non-denominational and can bring different churches together, it has also created a great forum for interaction," he added.

Since the expansion of the ministry, other sports, including netball, cricket and, more recently, basketball, have been included in the programme. Since then, the ministry has re-focused on church leagues in order to see some transformation within the society.

Virtue said after much consideration they realised that there had to be more to the programme than just operating a league.

"Coupled with my exposure of going to South Africa and knowing more about sports ministry, we started to look at other areas," he said.

Whole Life Sports has now added leadership development, under-standing humility and character to its list of goals. The organisation has also initiated mentorship programmes in the Arnett Gardens and August Town communities.

"We travel across the island where we do a lot of training clinics and workshops, helping the churches to set up sustainable church ministries. And that is because we believe that the churches are ideally situated in every community. If we can empower the church, then they can become more effective in the community," Virtue explained.

The programme also operates what is called a 'Boys' Kamp' that is filled with boundless energy, enthusiasm, fun and lessons for life. This programme was introduced in 1991 and is held annually for boys aged 7-14 years.

The organisation not only not shares its vision and passion for sports, but also seeks to target persons who are interested in starting a sports ministry, develop servant leaders, train and equip leaders to start, develop and maintain sports ministries and train coaches and managers.

Subsidised assistance

Whole Life Sports is subsided by the Fellowship Tabernacle and has received assistance from the Ministry of Health and, most recently, Flow Jamaica came on board.

Flow, along with Sportsman and Jamaica National Building Society, will donate $3,000 to the Whole Life Sports Ministries for each goal scored in the Flow Champions Cup All-Island knockout competition.

To date, a total of $135,000 has been pledged for the total goals scored during regulation time of the competition.

"The Flow situation was timely and divine," Virtue said. "With Flow coming on board, they know of the work we are doing and it will come a far way in helping us.

"It's not just about the money, but also about the publicity that we have been getting. People are now eager to find out what it is that we have been doing and how they can become a part of it," he added.

Virtue said he hoped people would see the value in what Whole Life Sports was doing and play their role part in supporting them.

"It may not be just financial, because sometimes these young men that we serve need people to just give an hour of their time. It might not be cash, it could be other resources," he stated.

keisha.hill@gleanerjm.com